Indeed, attributing much of the difficulty encountered along the way- such as Deathwater’s temptation- to the mist (whatever one thinks of the use of the mist as a narrative device in the first place) takes much of the scope out of the Dawn Treader’s voyages… these are the traps and snares of an enemy intelligence, set to beguile as traps. Much of the wonder and strangeness of Narnia is diminished by choices like tying the sea serpent and the dark island together with this strange green mist- leaving neither as natural occurrences of the land itself. (And there’s really no excuse for dropping lines, as there was in LOTR, considering the length of the source material!) And that is both honor enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Lines like ‘Safe? Of course he’s not safe! …But he’s good,’ or ‘You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve. Even the fairly-immediate rapport between Eustace and Reepicheep (with the water-barrel confrontation turning into a mentoring in swordfight technique, and then an exchange of banter) weakens the character arc for Eustace, having him too ‘good’ too soon. The divinity of Aslan is smothered in the dirt, while scenes both heartfelt and contemplative are replaced with action or bickering banter, and Miraz is turned into a bizarre Iraq War straw man/parallel.
Some of them are harmless enough- but most of them deprive us of key moments or lines from the books. Changes are made left, right, and center- and while we can generously assume they’re well-meant and not an attempt to create some sort of LOTR rip-off, they tend to step on the book badly.
Film narnia 5 movie#
When I was racking my brains for the contents of that last set of parenthesis, it occurred to me just how very much of each movie doesn’t follow the books at all… and how few of those scenes are successful. Others, while varying wildly from the books (like, say, the revelation that Eustace is a dragon, or the almost-summoning of the White Witch by the Hag and Werewolf), are still excellent scenes.Īnd yet… so much goes off the rails. They get some scenes- like the encounter with Father Christmas, or Lucy and Tumnus- absolutely right. Rupert Everett’s fox is… amazing- so much expressed in a simple voice. That each movie (sadly) fails at the box office, only for someone to manage to resurrect it again… well, it’s a testament to the enduring popularity of the Chronicles.Īnd there is a lot to love in the films. If nothing else, their sheer tenacity at coming back from cancellation puts both Doctor Who and Star Trek to shame. I want to like the Narnia films- I really do. There have been attempts, but each has had some issue (including the one that all of them share, namely NEVER FINISHING THE SERIES) that renders them less-than-perfect.Īnd then, we come to the modern film series.
Which is strange, because the effects and creatures are fairly simple by filmic standards, and the brevity of each work is enough to ensure that nothing would have to be left out.Īnd yet, there are times it seems as if only Focus on the Family has ever adapted Narnia properly (and even moreso than Puddleglum and Jill, David Suchet is the only man that has ever properly captured Aslan, for my two cents).
There are times it feels like they should never try to represent Narnia on film.
Film narnia 5 serial#
(Even if they managed to cast Silver Chair 100% perfectly, and no one who isn’t Tom Baker is really Puddleglum, nor can there be any true non-Camilla-Power Jill Poll!) There was also that lost black-and-white television serial version which I can’t actually watch (because it’s lost)- but if Troughton-era Doctor Who is any indication, would have been the epitome of awesome. It was fairly faithful, but… flawed, a bit. Then there was that BBC one with the terrible, terrible costumes, and an Aslan that couldn’t lip-sync. Whatever is it with you and adaptations? There was that animated one where the Witch explodes into black smoke (but at least they did some cool stuff with that ‘fire and water’ bit). When Movie Adaptation Miss the Point: Narnia Edition by Andrew Gilbertson
0 kommentar(er)
